Elpida Wins Tokyo Court Approval for $2.2 Billion Sale to Micron

Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Elpida Memory Inc., the Japanese
chipmaker in bankruptcy protection, won Tokyo District Court
approval for a 200 billion yen ($2.2 billion) sale to Micron
Technology Inc., clearing the last major hurdle in the takeover.

The required majority of creditors backed the plan,
according to a statement from the trustees of the Tokyo-based
company. The deadline for voting was Feb. 26. The Tokyo District
Court in October picked Boise, Idaho-based Micron as preferred
bidder over a rival plan put forward by some bondholders.

Buying Elpida will about double Micron’s share of the
global market for DRAM, the most widely used memory chips in
personal computers, and bolster its efforts to compete with
Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. Elpida, which supplies
Apple Inc., filed for bankruptcy in February 2012 and delisted a
month later after struggling with slowing PC sales and a strong
yen.

Global DRAM, or dynamic random-access memory, revenue fell
13 percent in the third quarter of last year to $6.6 billion,
according to the latest data compiled by Bloomberg Industries.
Demand dropped as users shunned PCs for mobile devices such as
Apple iPads, which use different types of chips.

Benchmark DRAM prices have climbed 30 percent this year,
according to TrendForce Corp.’s DRAMeXchange, which tracks the
market, as chipmakers pare production.